The UP Asian Center, the UP Office for Initiatives in Culture and the Arts (OICA), and the Bunga Arts Link held the Igal-Pansak Recital 2015 on Friday, 29 May 2015 at the GT-Toyota Asian Center Auditorium, Asian Center, University of the Philippines Diliman. The recital showcased the performances of participants of a free Igal Workshop that had been held on all Saturdays of May. Sponsored by the UP Asian Center, OICA, and the Bunga Arts Link, the workshop sought to enhance awareness of and appreciation for the Igal dance tradition -- its aesthetics and artistic techniques -- which is practiced mostly by Sama or Sinama-speaking peoples of the southern Philippines and of some parts of Indonesia and Malaysia. Before the actual performances, the recital also featured enactments of basic igal vocabulary -- concepts and their corresponding movements - to help acquaint the audience.
Joining the workshop participants were the Sama Bangingi Community of San Andres, who performed several igal pieces such as Lugu, Titik Sinamal, Titik Tausug, Pamansak, Lolay, Pansakan Denda, and Tubailasa. Members of Bunga Arts Link also rendered their performances of Kabkab, Binungahan, and a contemporary improvisation of igal-igal. MCM Santamaria, Professor of the Asian Center and artistic director of Bunga Arts Link, directed the recital.
In his message, Professor Santamaria stressed that "joint performances between Sama and non-Sama artists foster cultural understanding and help unleash forces of creative preservaton that transform artistic expression."
The Bunga Arts Link is a group composed largely of non-Sama researchers, writers, dancers, musicians, and writers engaged in the study of the Igal dance tradition and in the production of contemporary choreographic products using the Igal movement vocabulary. Visit their Facebook page here. The Office for Initiatives in Culture and the Arts is tasked to formulate policies, guidelines, plans, and programs on artistic and cultural activities for the UP Diliman campus.
Photo: Workshop participants, members of the Sama Bangingi Community of San Andres, and some members of the audience.
The Asian Center offers M.A. degrees in Asian Studies with four fields of specialization: Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, and West Asia. The Center also has an M.A. program in Philippine Studies that allows students to major in Philippine society and culture, Philippine foreign relations, or Philippine development studies. The Center offers a Ph.D. program in Philippine Studies in conjunction with the College of Arts and Letters and the College of Social Sciences and Philosophy. For an overview of these graduate programs, click here. The Asian Center also publishes Asian Studies: Journal of Critical Perspectives on Asia, the latest issue of which can be downloaded at the journal's website. For other news and upcoming events at the Asian Center, click here.